In the penultimate episode of The Killing, detective Sarah Linden is unraveling at rapid speeds after Skinner’s body is recovered along with ten more bodies of young girls. Detective Reddick corners Holder about his involvement in the murder, forcing him to reconsider his loyalty to Linden and think about himself and his family’s future.

What’s going on with Linden?: Immediately following the recovery of Skinner’s body, Linden starts to lose it, especially after Skinner’s daughter, Bethany, shows up at the morgue, screaming and crying. Linden tries to regain focus on the Stansbury case and storms into St. George’s where she proceeds to scream at Colonel Margaret Rayne, accusing her of being at the Stansbury house the night of the murders. Rayne, though obviously guilty of something, stands up straight, smirks, and poignantly states what we’ve been thinking this whole time:

“Your desperation is understandable, but I find it sloppy and pathetic that a woman in your position lets her emotions compromise her judgment so easily.”

Ouch. Truth hurts, Linden. It’s slightly disappointing because this gal is arguably one of the best detectives to grace a quality crime show in a long while and easily one of the best female detectives since Kima Greggs of The Wire. She goes hard, putting herself in the thick of things as she tries to piece together what happened from the victims’ perspectives. It’s also refreshing not to see a female detective on screen that looks like she’s dressed as a slutty cop for Halloween. Linden is real; she’s flawed, she’s angry, and it’s unfortunate how poor of a parent she is to her only son. But honestly, it’s inviting to watch a female protagonist who only cares about her work, so much so that it makes everything else in her life suffer. (Somewhere Sheryl Sandberg is wagging her finger and saying, “I told you so.”) Creator Veena Sud is definitely making a point: no one would get to the bottom of these cases without putting their personal lives aside.

Yet, Rayne is right. Linden rubs everyone the wrong way and inevitably falls into the category of Crazy Bitch, discrediting herself and any of her accomplishments. It’s such an easy to thing do as a viewer, to hop on the hater bandwagon, but even if you take the opposing side, you look like a fool defending her because of her abrasiveness and overall lack of empathy. When Linden stormed into Caroline’s office at the District Attorney to demand a warrant right then and there, she had no regard for Caroline’s time or Holder’s feelings as she continued to insult his girlfriend at her place of work. After Caroline recovers from the verbal attack, she asks, bewildered, “What is her problem?” Caroline, we wish we knew the answer.

What’s up with the case?: AJ Fielder, Colonel Rayne’s personal toy soldier, bursts into her office terrified that Kyle is staring to remember what really happened that night. It’s out in the open; AJ, Lincoln Knopf, and Colonel Rayne were all somehow involved in what happened to the Stansburys, but we’re still in the dark as to how or why. Rayne seems desperate to keep Kyle’s memory stunted, but her instinct almost seems motherly rather than selfish. Soon Kyle is nearly held hostage in the bathroom (these boys spend more time in the bathroom than any girls I know) by Fielder and Knopf. This is confusing because Fielder was freaking out about Kyle finding out anything more about that night the last time we saw him. But here they are, jogging his memory for him, and making him remember what made him snap and go on a killing spree. SO HE DID DO IT! But you’ll never guess what it was. Ever. And if you guess right, you probably need serious help. All I’ll tell you is that it’s about 50 minutes in.

What to expect in Episode Six: Now that Reddick knows everything, expect Sarah Linden to make a big choice — either flee town or turn herself in. Being the noble do-gooder that she is, we can most likely expect the latter, although you never know with that one — she’s a wild card. As far as Kyle and the Stansbury case, everything is going to come crashing down, and fast. After his memory came flooding back to him, Kyle escapes from St. George’s with Fielder and Knopf trailing him with hunting rifles.

Take Away: Military school hazing rituals are really fucked up, and now I’m permanently scarred. That is all.